Reviews

MY FAV YOUTH DRAMA

I was loved this kind of youth cdramas. After Wifty (When I fly towards you) I felt an emptiness and this cdrama filled it. I thought there would be no drama that focused on friendship like Wifty, and I was wrong. By the way, I don't understand why you gave it such a low rating. it must 9.0 rating. I felt every emotion with them (laughed, cried, had fun, etc.) I especially continued watching for Han Suhai and Ting Ting. I had fun in every scene of them. Throughout the 21 episodes, I never regretted starting. I hope there will be more youth cdramas like this...
Love from Turkiye (TR)

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Brilliantly Redefines the Meaning of Love

Overall, this is a raw, gritty series that presents itself more like a documentary movie than a BL series. It is dark, brooding, and exceedingly realistic. The characters are real people with real problems in real life actualities. I felt drained after watching this series. And categorically it is one of the most intelligently thought-out and refined BLs I have ever seen. It started out dark and remained dark even though its essence is not dark. The presentation of this series is very dark and certainly contemplative. It feels perilous and is filmed in a rather hazy dim fashion. Perhaps reflective of life for many people whose lives are more represented by this series. Pedestrian. Overlooked. Where life is difficult. Full of struggles. Lots of pain. Many unfulfilled dreams and desires. Yet, the foundation for continuing is still family, love, and commitment.

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Not terrible just mediocre

So...
8 episodes to the end and the most accurate reviews go to people rating it 7 or below.

I was pretty invested when I started this show but ultimately the show fell flat.
It's a BL with a plot which is rare. But as a story, romance-wise, plot-wise, wuxia-wise, execution-wise, production-wise etc. it lacks on all fronts. Though I have to mention that given China's censorship, I wasn't expecting anything from the BL aspect no matter how much people lauded the BL aspect of this show. I'm glad I did because, the few flirtatious lines felt more like two friends teasing each other than anything else which is 100% ok btw, I don't see the problem. My problem is people advertising this show as one the greatest BL of all time when there's just two friends teasing each other.
On that front, I'm sure I'm part of the minority since everybody's saying the flirting is pretty explicit... which is true... But I don't know maybe its because I'm French. I personally consider such teasing pretty average. It's more a matter of interpretation than anything else. If you take them seriously it's flirting. If you don't, it's just teasing each other by pretending your relation is really really close... which I've seen many of my perfectly heterosexual male friends do. There's this mention of "soulmate"... But very early on, it's established that it doesn't necessarily mean in a romantic way so here.

Also I don't remember when the switch happened but at some point, there are so many characters and subplots and the supposed main leads take such a backseat that we spend more time with the villains plotting whatever convoluted plot has been written (which is very complicated... for something actually pretty simple) that I started to wonder if this show was really supposed to be about Ke Xing and Zi Shu since they are hardly featured in there. As mentioned by other reviewers, it feels like they're both literally watching the story from the sidelines instead of actively participating in it.

Anyway... I'm finishing Ep 28 as I'm typing these lines... but I've been struggling with this show for more 13 episodes now.

I'm still going to finish it since I'm too close to the end to give it up... But my advice for people who want to watch this show is...
Lower your expectations A LOT to avoid dissapointment. If you have a blast, good for you, but if you don't, just know that you're not an exception at all.

I'm usually not the type of person that screams "overrated" since lots of shows which are very loved on MDL are shows that I personally hated so I understand my taste doesn't necessarily always align with others ( though most of the time it does)...
This being said, here I'm forced to say overrated.

It's not terrible... But it's very very bland and again too much plotting, too much talking, not enough time with the leads, too many side characters. I don't particularly mind the low production value, but when low production value is combined with a mediocre story, it just ruins the experience even more. It just doesn't work as a story period. But as a BL from China... I guess you could say you'll have a hard time finding something that's better ( and no I haven't seen the Untamed yet... or rather I dropped it at episode 19 but I'm planning to give it another go... for the story not for the BL aspect as I've read the first 3 volumes of the novel).

At the time I'm writing these lines... I'm heading towards a rating of 6.5 at most... But I'm leaning more towards 6 or 5.5. It started great but it quickly went downhill.

Again, not terrible... just mediocre.

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A cross-over that works

I actually really like this one! I know it's not what a lot of people imagined it would be, but personally I found it highly enjoyable nonetheless.
It gives the audience more Bad Buddy (my deeply, deeply beloved), perfectly recapturing the magic of Pat-Pran dynamic while incorporating it pretty seamlessly into the ATOTS universe, which is no mean feat considering how tonally and thematically different the two shows are.
It also helped soothe my anger over the last three ATOTS episodes a little by focusing once again on what made that show great to begin with: Tian, Phu, and their complicated relationships.

It's not perfect by a long shot, some of the plot points are fairly ridiculous and, much like in the original show, the ATOTS half of the special introduces an interesting theme (how small annoyances and miscommunications can put a heavy strain on a relationship, as well as Phu's self-worth issues concerning the relationship) which it then fails to follow through on.

All in all though I think these episodes work a lot better than I expected them to and they are definitely worth watching at least once.
The ending is also pretty damn delightful, if that helps sway you.

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Breaking all stereotypes between man and woman / hero and antihero

Imagine your regular romance drama reverse the gender roles ...this is exactly what you get ... Here the FL general is domineering.. strong..tough ... Manly ...Outgoing ... And Protective ... Whatever you see in ML from other shows she has everything to offer .. while ML is beautiful.. shy .. fragile matrilocal husband doing household chores ( atleast he pretends) ..weak in body (pretends)
The extreme twist in gender roles is what makes this show worth watching

Of course there is a back story of conspiracy going on ..but my bet is on the leads and their romance ..that's the core of the show

Totally recommended

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Initially, I liked the series because of its main characters. After watching the second episode, I was impressed by the story and the flow of events. However, the problem was the lack of some details due to the short series - 8 episodes, which were not enough to explain the intricacies of the plot. This was especially noticeable as the story is based on crime, excitement, and revenge. Most of CEO Lee's mysterious movements and communications remained unknown to us. The romantic story between the heroes was beautiful, but it lacked some romantic scenes to help us understand their love for each other. There were no hugs or even the touch of a hand, while we saw her hugging and holding the hand of the second hero more than once. This detracted from the pleasure of the romantic storyline.

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An heartwarming teacher-student drama that’s full of positive messages.

'Khru Ma' is a hidden gem, an underrated drama. The premise of a new, fun, eccentric teacher from the city is not new, but this drama delivers the idea in a way that goes beyond the new teacher storyline. It has several themes, such as education, teacher-student relationships, friendships, and local community life. All these themes are conveyed in well-written plots and characters.

Wichai is a strong believer that knowledge is not fixed in textbooks and that education should benefit the students, not the teacher. As quoted by Wichai; “Students scoring higher marks in every subject is more of the teachers’ success measurement than the students.” Although the drama focused on his unconventional teaching style, it also objectively touched on the pros and cons of the common teaching methodology.

The time setting that takes place during the dispute between the Khmer and Vietnamese communist parties makes the conflict in this drama not only focused on the school but also revolves around the town, which is located at the Thai-Cambodian border, where the people are of diverse ethnicities and different backgrounds. It also touched on how the conflict has led to prejudice against other races within the community. However, the issue is skillfully conveyed without displaying bias.

One major thing that I like about this drama is the characters. Each character has its own significance - the teachers, the students, the headmaster, the parents, and even the small roles of the café owner and the librarian. If Wichai is the head of this drama, the students are the limbs. They carry out the plots effortlessly, making every episode enjoyable to watch. Although the issues created by the opposing characters seem repetitive, they’re just enough to create tension.

This drama does come with a few flaws, especially the repetitive displeasure among teachers about Wichai's teaching style, but overall, it does a good job at creating a balance between drama, comedy, romance, tension, family, and friendship without losing its main focus.

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TayNew Are Amazing in this, better than Dark Blue Kiss by a Mile

I laughed A LOT throughout this series. The main couple is great, but it is the return of TayNew (or Pete and Kao from Dark Blue Kiss & Kiss Me Again) on screen. Their chemistry is fantastic. I recently watched Dark Blue Kiss for the first time, so some scenes and moments remind me of the two of them in that series. However, I liked this series's more adult environment and approach to relationships.

This series addresses issues of being in a rut in one's life, chasing one's goals, finding love later than is culturally expected, and being willing to learn and embrace new things. While younger people may enjoy this BL series, this one really hits home for the middle-aged crowd (or at least those of us in our 30s who don't want to be called middle-aged or uncles quite yet).

Our main couple has so much depth and emotional weight. The side BL couple also has a fair amount of cuteness and emotional heft. I kind of wish we had more time with Rock and Pai. They were utterly adorable, but that would have detracted from the main couple.

The romance between Achi and Karan is amazing and brings out the green-eyed monster in me. Karan is so caring and understanding. Achi I could connect with his shyness and uncertainty about himself. There is very little spice to this series. Honestly, Dark Blue Kiss had more spice to it than this series. Yet, this is the best project I have seen TayNew do together. I would love to see them in more of these kinds of stories.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I laughed A LOT, got teary-eyed in a couple of scenes, loved the chemistry, and felt sad when I watched the last episode because I wanted to follow more of their story.

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MASTERPIECE

everything about this drama is PERFECT. from storyline, characters, character's development, cinematography, script, cgi, transitions, acting, they're flawless. the first episode got me intrigued and it makes you want to binge-watching this series. i like how they directed the plot because it made us feel more connected to the main leads as they thrown into mindblowing event. i loved the chemistry between main leads (bai jingting and zhao jinmai) they were very cute and seeing their character's relationship growth made me want to see them together again in another project. this series became one of my top three c-dramas that i will recommend it to everyone :D

p.s as a kdrama lover for a long time and someone who had a prejudice on cdrama, reset is most likely similar to kdrama style(?) idk just my feeling..

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Will literally shed your tears but will also make you smile and laugh as hard

This was one of those unexpected series I've watched because I've seen too many clips that it made me REALLY interested. (I usually don't watch ongoing series because I don't like the waiting time in between episodes. I jumped the bandwagon more than halfway through the series and I could say that the torture of 3-4 weeks is totally worth it).

I never thought that I needed SooHyun and JiWon on the same screen but they totally delivered and I can't get enough. I love the simplicity of the storyline -- where it's both predictable and unpredictable. I thought it was just another romcom but I found myself crying as much as I laughed. The chemistry between the Queen's family and HyunWoo's family (including the whole village people) is too cute and heartwarming. They're not perfect but somehow they made it work better than perfection can.

The HyunWoo and HaeIn couple is the type of relationship that I really root for. I didn't experience what they went through but somehow I felt all the pain and all the happiness they have. If they're real people out there, I really wish them happiness until they're old. The challenges they went through only made them stronger.

The OSTs are also gem. Even without watching, if I hear the OST somewhere, I definitely feel warm and fuzzy -- sometimes a bit teary eyed, too. I can never recommend this enough, I really love Queen of Tears. ❤️

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